Leicester City have announced plans to build a £100million training complex - following in the footsteps of Bournemouth and a host of other Premier League teams who have moved to strengthen their bases.

The statement from the architects behind the Foxes’ planning application speaks of a clear brief from the club, with the desire to create the “best training centre in Europe” which will “attract the best talent” to the club. It will have 14 pitches, indoor facilities and a golf-course.

This is a sign of ambition.

Meanwhile, at Newcastle United, improvements to United’s Benton Training Centre have taken place over the past few years - but they are nowhere near as extensive as previously promised.

Rafa Benitez has a desire to improve the facilities but it appears owner Mike Ashley does not.

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The promise of similar ‘state-of-the-art’ facilities to those proposed at Leicester were also heard by United fans back in 2013.

Then it was Joe Kinnear as director of football leading the calls for change.

“We are delighted to now be announcing plans for a training complex which will rival any in Europe,” he said at the time.

The club backed Kinnear’s announcement with a statement of its own, confirming plans of a full refurbishment of the Benton HQ.

The statement promised “a stunning new state-of-the-art training complex” with a swimming pool, a hydrotherapy unit, and a fitness pool which would see the club “occupy one of the finest training facilities of it’s kind in Europe”.

Plans were passed in October 2014 by the council and a date of May 2016 was set.

A general view of the Training Ground during the Newcastle United Training session at the Newcastle United Training Centre on December 29, 2017, (Image: Newcastle United)

By 2015 things had not progressed. At a Fans Forum meeting, it was suggested that a poor showing in the league had determined the plans be put on a hold - but with the view that they would get back on track.

Less than 12 months later, and ironically in the month that the work was due to be completed, United were relegated to the Championship.

Now two years on, Benitez has been unable to make drastic improvements to the training ground.

In a recent interview with Guillem Balague, Benitez hinted that there wasn’t the budget to complete the overhaul that he envisages.

“We decided to change a little bit the training ground when we first arrived at Newcastle,” Benitez explained.

“Obviously it’s not easy to change big things without big money, but to give a football atmosphere and some colour and some passion, we put things like the canvas of St James’ Park in the manager’s room.”

It would be easy to look at Leicester’s plans and argue they were Premier League champions just two years ago.

Leicester City's proposed new training ground

But when United finished fifth in 2011/12, Leicester managed just a ninth-placed finish in the Championship. When Kinnear revealed his big ambition, the Foxes were still in the second tier.

It’s United’s lack of ambition which has allowed teams like Leicester to get ahead, but even those on similar budgets - Burnley and Brighton - have far superior complexes.

Burnley spent £10million on a new training ground, while Brighton opened a facility costing £20m back in 2014.

(Image: Leicester City FC/KSS Design Group)

Other teams such as Bournemouth are following suit, with the south-coast team pressing ahead with plans for a £10m training ground, while improvements are also being made at Huddersfield Town’s PPG Canalside.

Newly-promoted sides Wolves and Fulham are all planning improvements on a much bigger scale than seen at Newcastle in recent years, too.

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Wolves are planning to expand their Sir Jack Hayward Training Centre base, aiming to include more medical and academy facilities through two extensions. While Fulham have been granted permission to start work on the land opposite their current training ground Motspur Park, as the club looks to build state-of-the-art facilities for their Under-23s and Under-18s, while continuing to use their current facilities alongside the new build.

With Benitez coming into the last year of his contract, he needs Ashley to show ambition not only with transfers but with investment off the pitch to help aid his long-term goal.

Currently that doesn’t appear likely and sadly, that’s just symptomatic of Ashley’s tenure.

More than that, the long term cost of not improving the facilities could prove huge if United continue to avoid improving the facilities - being proactive now might just save some money in the future.